Liquid Retention: What It Is, Causes, and How to Fight It

Javier Colomer 10 min. of reading Weight Loss Leave a comment

Fluid Retention isn’t a serious problem by itself, but rather the body’s response to a mix of different factors

Among these are eating habits, lack of physical activity, a sedentary lifestyle, taking medications… In a way, we can minimize it or even “get rid” of it.

Index

1 What is Fluid Retention?
2 Fluid Retention or Extra “Kilos”
3 Fluid Retention in the Body
4
5 Why Do Fluids Get Retained?
6 Water Balance
7 Antidiuretic Hormone
8 Sodium Balance
9 Aldosterone
10 Cortisol and Fluid Retention
11 Creatine Does NOT Retain Fluids
12 Tips to Fight Fluid Retention
13 Sources
14 Related Posts

What is Fluid Retention?

Fluid retention is a phenomenon that happens when there’s an excessive buildup of fluid in the circulatory system, body tissues, or body cavities.

The body is made up of about 70% water, both inside and outside the cells of our body

Blood is mainly water, just like our organs and muscles:

Muscle mass is about 75% water
Fat contains around 50% water
The bone system also hovers around 50% water

Fluid Retention or Extra “Kilos”

Many people aiming for a certain look that lets them show off defined muscles sometimes don’t reach their goal, thinking they still have fat to lose.

Also, outside the sports (fitness) world, fluid buildup or retention is common in people who are either sedentary or do some activity, where some of these cases happen:

Poor diet, high in sodium,
Hormonal imbalance,
Injury,
Medication intake

These will cause unwanted fluid retention, leading to an electrolyte imbalance and changes in normal water behavior, causing accumulation, especially in the subcutaneous area

Fluid Retention in the Body

In most cases, fluid buildup tends to show mainly in:

Lower back area
Under the belly
Ankles, wrists
Face

Why Do Fluids Get Retained?

It mainly happens due to a disruption in the body’s water regulation system. The kidneys are involved here: they control the volume and concentrations of sodium and potassium, as well as the pH of body fluids.

Causes

Among possible disorders that disturb the balance and normal function of the fluid regulation system are:

Dehydration
Blood loss
Salt (sodium) intake
Even the amount of water we drink daily

To explain why our body retains fluids, it’s necessary to understand how the body, especially which systems, regulate the volume and osmolarity of body fluids

Water Balance

The body will always try to balance water: what you consume (food and drinks) should equal what you excrete.

One mechanism that influences our behavior to increase or decrease water intake is thirst

Water is excreted through skin, lungs, feces, but mostly processed by the kidneys

This organ can control excess water by releasing it through urine

Antidiuretic Hormone

There’s a hormone called Vasopressin or antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which ultimately controls how much water is excreted in urine via the kidneys.

It’s produced in the brain’s hypothalamus region

It helps control blood pressure by acting on kidneys and capillaries. It can regulate and maintain body fluid volume by reducing the amount of water passing into urine: it makes water return to the bloodstream, lowers its concentration in urine, so less fluid is excreted.

High ADH levels can cause vasoconstriction (narrowing) of capillaries and thus raise blood pressure.

The release of this hormone is controlled by factors like:

Reduced blood volume or low blood pressure due to dehydration or bleeding
High salt concentration in blood, like not drinking enough water on a hot day (causing dehydration)
Thirst, vomiting, nausea…

Alcohol inhibits ADH release, causing increased urine output and thus dehydration

High ADH Levels

Will cause water retention in the body. There’s a condition called SIADH or Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone, a certain case of hyponatremia. Here, there’s excess ADH release without need.

This causes blood to be more diluted, resulting in a severe drop in salt concentration

Low ADH Levels

Will cause the body to excrete a lot of water. Urine volume increases, leading to dehydration and also a drop in blood pressure.

Low levels may indicate damage to the hypothalamus or pituitary gland, or even polydipsia, a psychological disorder involving compulsive water drinking.

In this condition, low ADH levels represent an overexertion to get rid of excess water

Sodium Balance

Along with water balance and volume regulation, here we refer to the osmolarity of body fluids. This term relates to the amount of solute (concentration) in a liquid or fluid per unit volume, usually per liter.

To regulate osmolarity, it’s necessary to balance sodium intake and excretion with water. Sodium is the solute, given its presence in extracellular fluids, and thus determines osmolarity.

An extreme change in osmolarity can cause cells to suffer damage, shrinking or swelling, even destroying cell structure and altering normal cell function

The concept of osmolarity regulation must be linked to volume, since changes in water amount automatically cause changes in body fluid concentration.

Example:

If we sweat and cause some dehydration, we lose much more water than sodium (other salts are also lost), so osmolarity of body fluids rises (solute or sodium concentration increases).

In this case, our body must conserve water to regulate osmolarity, which is why we need to drink fluids

Aldosterone

ADH acts by reducing osmolarity (lowering sodium) by increasing water reabsorption in kidneys, helping dilute fluids. The kidneys themselves have a system to prevent osmolarity from dropping too low.

Enter Aldosterone: a hormone whose main job is to regulate sodium and blood pressure.

Aldosterone is secreted by adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, acting on them to increase the amount of sodium reabsorbed into the bloodstream and thus reduce its excretion in urine.

It can also cause water to reabsorb along with sodium, increasing blood volume and therefore pressure. For this reason, aldosterone also regulates electrolyte levels in blood and helps maintain blood pH

How Aldosterone Regulates Osmolarity

If osmolarity rises above normal, aldosterone secretion is inhibited, so less sodium is reabsorbed by the distal tubule (kidney structure responsible for selective sodium reabsorption). The body tries to keep as much volume as possible. In this case, ADH secretion will increase to conserve water, creating a synergistic effect between both hormones:

Aldosterone -> inhibited -> osmolarity decreases (less sodium reabsorbed)
ADH -> increased -> more water conserved (more water reabsorbed)

Cortisol and Fluid Retention

Cortisol is a hormone produced by adrenal glands that’s very important, especially for dealing with situations where the body senses a threat.

Also known as the “Stress Hormone,” it regulates and modulates several responses in our body, such as:

Blood sugar levels
Fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism
Immune system
Anti-inflammatory response
Blood pressure
Nervous system activation

Normally, cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day and night.

They follow circadian rhythms, peaking early in the morning upon waking, then gradually decreasing during the day to a low before bedtime

Cortisol’s Role

Cortisol helps us handle stressful situations, reducing activity of other body systems not involved, to focus all energy on solving the risk or stress source.

This process should be brief, just enough to get through the situation (like intense physical demand). We don’t have to run from a bear nowadays, but it’s comparable to physical exercise, depending on levels…

Blood pressure also rises if cortisol levels stay high. One reason is it increases the body’s sensitivity to catecholamines, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, causing vasoconstriction and thus reducing blood flow in some areas.

This, in turn, causes an effect related to this topic: antidiuretic action and sodium retention, leading to water retention.

Since almost every cell has a cortisol receptor, the problem worsens exponentially. We see how people under continuous stress, due to work or similar reasons, besides possibly getting sick often (cortisol lowers immune activity), often tend to feel bloated.

Excessive physical exercise or poor sports planning also raises the body’s response and keeps abnormal cortisol levels.

If it worsens, it can lead to a risky situation: Overtraining: What it is, Why it happens, How to fight it

Creatine Does NOT Retain Fluids

In the supplement world, when it comes to whether creatine retains or causes fluid buildup, there’s a lot of controversy.

Even more so when talking about the cutting phase…

Creatine DOES retain water, but at the intracellular level, NOT subcutaneous. It keeps cells hydrated, which is one way creatine works to achieve its ergogenic effects

Tips to Fight Fluid Retention

If you’re one of those who watch your figure closely and follow a precise diet, know that the day you stray or just change some foods, your body will retain water.

It’s nothing alarming, quite the opposite, it’s totally normal. And also something your body will regulate in a few days depending on how big the binge was… and soon you’ll be able to take your shirt off again…

Eating fresh vegetables and fruits daily helps reduce fluid retention

We can help our body maintain a better water balance by:

Not cutting out sodium habitually.
Increasing potassium intake
Drinking water and fluids more often during summer
Drinking water with electrolytes during tougher workouts
You can add supplements like Herbal Extracts with diuretic properties
Doing light exercise daily (walking…)
Plan intense exercise
Boost NEAT (take stairs instead of elevator, get off the bus 2 stops early…)
Try to sleep 6-8h

Remedies to Reduce Fluid Retention

Dietary Measures

Some foods are natural diuretics. To eliminate fluid retention, you can take:

Vegetables like parsley, asparagus, celery, leek, onion, tomato, or eggplant.
Fruits like watermelon, melon, kiwi, banana, raspberry, currant, grape, orange, or pineapple.
Legumes like lentils, chickpeas, or broad beans.
Cereals like oats and brown rice.
Infusions of green tea, birch, orthosiphon or Java tea, horsetail, goldenrod, broom, or corn stigmas.

Physical Activity

Regular physical activity helps eliminate fluids. Cycling, walking, swimming, or going up and down stairs are great exercises to control this issue. Any activity involving leg movement stimulates kidney function and promotes diuresis.

For people who sit most of the day, it’s advised to move toes continuously so muscles pump fluids and to stand up every hour to stretch legs and take a short walk